The Princeville at Hanalei Community Association’s Annual Meeting took place last Saturday, October 23, 2010 at the Princeville Community Center. It was attended by about 70 homeowners and our new General Manager, Rory Enright, directed the meeting with informative and entertaining insights.

Our HOA President, Robert Doyle, gave a summary with interesting news and updates about the past year. Several community events took place including outdoor movies as well as a wonderful Concert in the Park, and the upcoming Fine Arts Exhibit on November 6th and 7th was announced. Out of 774 single family homes and 1262 condominiums there currently are 17 REOs (bank owned and liened properties) and 44 delinquent properties in Princeville. A new Board of Director, Betsy Lis, was elected and the outgoing Director, Jean Ann Flaherty, was honored with a plaque for her valuable services in the past. The HOA Treasurer, Chris Spencer, indicated that next year’s budget will have a slight increase of about 5% mainly due to higher insurance cost.

A Neighborhood Watch presentation by Bob Hickling indicated that burglaries in Princeville are down by roughly 30% this year and that about 2/3 of all Princeville home owners have signed up to be members of the re-activated Neighborhood Watch program. Neighborhood Watch works – way to go! For more information on how to become a member, please visit www.pcaonline.org and find out who your block captains are.

The head of the Princeville Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), Laurel Johnson, gave an informative video presentation about their organization. CERT assists the Civil Defense and the Fire Department in emergency situations, for example, during the last Tsunami warning they did a great job directing traffic coming up to the Princeville area which is out of the flood zone. There is a 6-week CERT training going on at the Sunset Neighborhood Clubhouse. Anyone interested in becoming a CERT member, please visit www.pcaonline.org.

The St. Regis Princeville Hotel General Manager, Milton Sgarbi, gave an update on the hotel that’s now been open for a year. Occupancy numbers are on the rise, especially for 2011. Also, a Kama’aina Discount Card, called Aficionado Inner Circle, is available. This card offers various discounts at the hotel. For more information please visit http://www.stregisprinceville.com.

The General Manager of the Makai Club, Alex Nakajima, provided information on the newly renovated Makai Golf Course, open since 1/16/10. The course is looking great and some of the homeowner’s concerns about noise and maintenance of the fairways will be addressed. The Woods Course is a great alternative for Kama’ainas to play 9-holes for $15 walking and for $25 with a cart. Four tennis courts are available to the community for a fee, and there is a slight chance that the swimming pool and the small workout cottage at the Makai Club might be open to the community in the new year as well. Please stand by. For more information please visit http://makaigolf.com.

Last but not least, two young and enthusiastic representatives from Anaina Hou in Kilauea, a philanthropic endeavor about agriculture, education and recreation owned by the Bill Porter Family, introduced their project consisting of a Hawaii themed miniature golf facility, a park and ride area, a nursery, and a future music and movie pavilion. This project is located next to Banana Joe’s Fruit Stand on the mauka side of Kuhio Highway and will open its mini golf facility next month. Fees will be $8 for Kama’ainas and even less for children. For more information please visit http://anainahou.com. Mahalo nui!